Skillet food truck: Bacon Jam makes the perfect condiment

I’ll confess that we came here for the bacon jam. I saw a clip on the Food Network and I had to try it. Since bacon has risen to the top of the food trend ladder, it’s now found in everything from ice cream to vodka. I had yet to eat the delectable fatty breakfast meat in a jam though so here was my chance!

Parked in a perfect little spot in downtown Seattle near public transit and a few blocks from Pike Place Market, Skillet food truck was a busy little hub at lunch time.

Skillet Food Truck, Downtown Seattle, WA

We each ordered a burger and fries. “The Burger” featured a 6 oz. grass fed painted hills beef patty with blue cheese, brie and a big glob of bacon jam. I favoured this burger over “The Basic,” which we also ordered. The creamy brie and the pungent blue cheese was the perfect accompaniment to that rich bacon jam.

Skillet Food Truck, Downtown Seattle, WA

Skillet Food Truck, Downtown Seattle, WA

Bacon jam, just as it’s described in the video above is salty, sweet, savoury and extremely fatty. It actually does in fact taste fatty. It’s great! The caramelized onions are sweet and the bacon is extremely salty and that balsamic vinegar just cuts through it all with the perfect sharpness. Bacon jam really is the perfect condiment for almost any snack: brie and crackers, topping for scrambled eggs, I even spread it on my morning toast. I wish I had discovered bacon jam earlier. They sell jars of bacon jam right on the truck. We also saw jars of bacon jam all throughout Pike Place Market and in a few specialty kitchen shops in Seattle. The co-owner of Skillet food truck mentions in the above video that they didn’t set out to sell bacon jam, they set out to serve burgers. But it’s hard to ignore a cash cow when it’s sitting in your own kitchen, I guess. As Hannah McKay on Dexter would say “Do what you gotta do.”

Skillet Food Truck, Downtown Seattle, WA

Skillet Food Truck, Downtown Seattle, WA

“The Basic” burger also featured that tender and flavourful grass fed painted hills beef patty found in ‘The Burger,” along with other classic burger fixings: American cheese and lettuce. Again, the best ingredient in this burger was the bacon jam. Punching up the flavour of the already well-seasoned beef and the sweetness in the brioche bun, bacon jam is almost a magic ingredient. Bacon’s spot in the limelight of the foodie scene has really shown how versatile of an ingredient it is. Granted, it’s hinging on cliche at this point, the frequency that bacon appears on dessert and cocktail menus, I will still however, eat bacon jam by the spoonful and find new ways to incorporate it in as many foods as possible.

Bacon jam, Skillet Food Truck, Downtown Seattle, WA

Bacon jam, Skillet Food Truck, Downtown Seattle, WA

Bacon jam, Skillet Food Truck, Downtown Seattle, WA

Bacon jam, Skillet Food Truck, Downtown Seattle, WA

Although, I loved the soft brioche buns at Skillet food truck, I thought they were too delicate for such jam (no pun intended) packed burgers.

Skillet Food Truck, Downtown Seattle, WA

I can’t wait to visit Skillet food truck again for my next bacon jam fix! I might even trek out of downtown to visit the famous Skillet diner for one of their hearty brunches.